SUMMERS, Marc

PERSONAL: Born in Indianapolis, IN; married; children: two.

ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o Author Mail, Penguin Putnam, 375 Hudson St., New York, NY 10014.

CAREER: Comedian, magician, producer, and director. Nickelodeon (television studio), programming consultant. National spokesman, Obsessive-Compulsive Foundation. Former host of children's television game shows Double Dare and Family Double Dare, Nickelodeon; former host of Home Show, ABC-TV, and Our Home, Lifetime; host of television talk show, Great Day America, PAX-TV. Has appeared in children's educational programs, including It's OK to Say No to Drugs, True North Entertainment, 1988, Kids Have Rights Too, True North Entertainment, 1989, and Tuning in to Media, Continental Cablevision, 1994. Has appeared on television talk shows, including Oprah, Today, and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

MEMBER: Obsessive-Compulsive Foundation.

WRITINGS:

(With Eric Hollander) Everything in Its Place: My Trials and Triumphs with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, J. P. Tarcher/Putnam (New York, NY), 1999.

SIDELIGHTS: Marc Summers became known in children's education circles while hosting television shows, including Double Dare and Great Day America. After learning about Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) while hosting a talk show in 1994, Summers was treated with drug and behavior therapies for the condition by noted authority Eric Hollander. Summers has since become the national spokesperson for the Obsessive-Compulsive Foundation.

Summers wrote of his struggle with OCD in his 1999 memoir Everything in Its Place: My Trials and Triumphs with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, cowritten with Hollander. Though OCD affects an estimated six million people in America, the disorder still has a stigma associated with it; Summers chronicles the "fear and shame he felt about his compulsions, [and] the toll they took on his family," noted a critic for Publishers Weekly. The critic praised the work for it's upbeat tone, and summarized it as both a memoir and a guide. The work was also praised by some critics for disseminating information on OCD in a positive light, encouraging sufferers to seek treatment.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, January 1, 1995, p. 834; October 1, 1999, review of Everything in Its Place: My Trials and Triumphs with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, p. 332.

Library Journal, October 1, 1999, Lisa S. Wise, review of Everything in Its Place, p. 118.

Publishers Weekly, August 23, 1999, review of Everything in Its Place, p. 33.

School Library Journal, March, 1990, Debra Kornegay, review of Kids Have Rights Too, p. 170; April, 1990, p. 58.*